Method and apparatus for providing intelligent error messaging

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for providing intelligent error messaging is disclosed wherein a user of a mobile communications device is provided with descriptive error messaging information to assist the user in overcoming errors associated with the processing of electronic messages and data. For example, when the mobile device is being used to decrypt a cryptographically secured electronic message, and a problem is encountered, program logic of the device provides the user with (1) an indication of exactly what problem is preventing opening of the message, for example, a required cryptographic key is not available; (2) an indication of exactly what may be done to overcome the problem, for example, what utilities should be run on the device; and (3) exactly what data, if any, needs to be downloaded to the device, for example, what cryptographic keys should be downloaded.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to mobile wirelesscommunications devices capable of processing cryptographically securemessages and information. In particular, the disclosure is directed to amethod and apparatus for providing a user of a mobile wirelesscommunications device with descriptive error messaging information toassist the user in decrypting a cryptographically secured message whereinformation necessary for decrypting the message, such as, for example,a particular private key(s), are not present on the user's mobilewireless communications device.

2. Related Art

Exchanging cryptographically secured electronic messages and data, suchas, for example, e-mail messages, is well known. Typically, the user ofa device for receiving such cryptographically secured electronicinformation, such as, for example, a mobile wireless communicationsdevice, is provided with a store containing private keys, certificates,and the like, required for decrypting various cryptographically securedinformation. Occasionally, the secure message may be encrypted with apublic key for which the store of the mobile wireless communicationsdevice does not include a corresponding private key or certificate fordecrypting the message.

Existing e-mail processing software, such as, for example, MicrosoftOutlook™, does not provide any detailed information when a decryptionerror is detected. The error messages provided by such conventionalsystems are typically cryptic error messages that do not describeexactly what the problem is or what needs to be done to overcome theproblem. For example, in an instance where a cryptographically securede-mail message cannot be decrypted because the user's communicationdevice (e.g., a wireless handheld device, desktop, etc.) does not havethe corresponding private key of a public key private key pair, that isnecessary for properly decrypting the message, conventional systemsmerely provide a cryptic, terse and uninformative message, such as, forexample, “Can't open this item. Your digital ID name cannot be found bythe underlying security system.” Messages of this type provide thetypical user who is unfamiliar with cryptographically secured messagingwith little helpful information for remedying the problem so that themessage can be decrypted and read. This uninformative error messagingtends to confuse and frustrate users who merely want to be able to readthe message.

This problem is further exacerbated in systems employing certificateswith relatively small validity protocols or by key inventories that havehigh rollover rates. As described above, the information typicallyprovided by conventional e-mail processing software tends only toindicate the existence of a problem, for example, that a message cannotbe decrypted, but does not provide the unsophisticated user with enoughinformation to solve the problem. In other words, merely identifying theexistence of a problem without providing any remedial information toassist the user in overcoming the problem is a fundamental drawback ofconventional cryptographically secured electronic messaging systems,such as, for example, wireless handheld communications devices.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, we have now recognized the need for a methodand apparatus for providing detailed error messaging to enable the userof cryptographically secured electronic messaging not only to identifythe existence of a fault or problem, but that also provides informationto enable to user to correct the identified problem and to read theencrypted message.

To this end, it is advantageous to provide sufficient understandable andhelpful information to a user so that in most typical cryptographicerror situations, the user will be aware of exactly what is causing theproblem, how to overcome the problem and what, if any, additionalinformation may be required to be downloaded to the user device toovercome the problem.

For example, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, whena user attempts to open a cryptographically secured message on theuser's wireless communications device, and a problem is encountered, theuser is provided with at least the following: (1) an indication ofexactly what problem is preventing opening of the message, for example,the message is encrypted but cannot be decrypted because the requiredprivate key is not present on the user's device; (2) an indication ofhow the problem may be solved, for example, the user may update thedevice's key store using certificate synchronization software in thedevice's desktop manager; and (3) indicating to the user exactly whatinformation needs to be loaded on to the user's device, for example, themissing certificate corresponds to one of the following serialnumber/issuer pairs: XX, YY, etc.

The foregoing provides users who are typically unfamiliar with securedmessaging with more than a cryptic error message that merely indicatesthe existence of a problem. It provides the uninitiated user withinformation that describes exactly what the problem is, how to updatethe user's device to solve the problem, and what information/data isrequired to overcome the problem. The solution provided herein willalleviate significant user frustration and confusion that typicallyoccurs when only cryptic error messages are provided without any usefulinformation for overcoming the problem being encountered.

These and other advantages attendant therewith are provided by exemplaryembodiments of the invention wherein a method and apparatus forproviding detailed error messaging, including information to assist auser in overcoming the error, includes: identifying an error, providingan error message identifying the existence of an error, the errormessage including: providing a detailed description of the source of theerror; providing a description of what procedures may be undertaken bythe user to overcome the error; and providing an indication of whatinformation must be downloaded to the user's device to overcome theproblem.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects and advantages of exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention will be better understood and appreciated inconjunction with the following detailed description of exemplaryembodiments taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an overall system wide schematic view of an exemplary wirelesse-mail communication system incorporating a mobile wirelesscommunications device with the descriptive error messaging in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a further examplary communication systemincluding multiple networks and multiple mobile communication devices;

FIG. 3 is an abbreviated schematic diagram of hardware included withinan exemplary mobile wireless communications device;

FIG. 4 is an abbreviated schematic functional diagram of thehardware/software utilized to achieve updating of the mobile wirelesscommunication device key/certificate store in the exemplary embodimentof FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is and exemplary abbreviated schematic flow diagram of an errormessaging program according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIGS. 6A and 6B are illustrative depictions showing exemplary errormessaging in accordance with the exemplary embodiments discussed above

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is an overview of an example communication system in which awireless communication device may be used. One skilled in the art willappreciate that there may be hundreds of different topologies, but thesystem shown in FIG. 1 helps demonstrate the operation of the encodedmessage processing systems and methods described in the presentapplication. There may also be many message senders and recipients. Thesimple system shown in FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only, andshows perhaps the most prevalent Internet e-mail environment wheresecurity is not generally used.

FIG. 1 shows an e-mail sender 10, the Internet 20, a message serversystem 40, a wireless gateway 85, wireless infrastructure 90, a wirelessnetwork 105 and a mobile communication device 100.

An e-mail sender system 10 may, for example, be connected to an ISP(Internet Service Provider) on which a user of the system 10 has anaccount, located within a company, possibly connected to a local areanetwork (LAN), and connected to the Internet 20, or connected to theInternet 20 through a large ASP (application service provider) such asAmerica Online (AOL). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thesystems shown in FIG. 1 may instead be connected to a wide area network(WAN) other than the Internet, although e-mail transfers are commonlyaccomplished through Internet-connected arrangements as shown in FIG. 1.

The message server 40 may be implemented, for example, on a networkcomputer within the firewall of a corporation, a computer within an ISPor ASP system or the like, and acts as the main interface for e-mailexchange over the Internet 20. Although other messaging systems mightnot require a message server system 40, a mobile device 100 configuredfor receiving and possibly sending e-mail will normally be associatedwith an account on a message server. Perhaps the two most common messageservers are Microsoft Exchange™ and Lotus Domino™. These products areoften used in conjunction with Internet mail routers that route anddeliver mail. These intermediate components are not shown in FIG. 1, asthey do not directly play a role in the secure message processingdescribed below. Message servers such as server 40 typically extendbeyond just e-mail sending and receiving; they also include dynamicdatabase storage engines that have predefined database formats for datalike calendars, to-do lists, task lists, e-mail and documentation.

The wireless gateway 85 and infrastructure 90 provide a link between theInternet 20 and wireless network 105. The wireless infrastructure 90determines the most likely network for locating a given user and tracksthe user as they roam between countries or networks. A message is thendelivered to the mobile device 100 via wireless transmission, typicallyat a radio frequency (RF), from a base station in the wireless network105 to the mobile device 100. The particular network 105 may bevirtually any wireless network over which messages may be exchanged witha mobile communication device.

As shown in FIG. 1, a composed e-mail message 15 is sent by the e-mailsender 10, located somewhere on the Internet 20. This message 15 isnormally fully in the clear and uses traditional Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP), RFC822 headers and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension(MIME) body parts to define the format of the mail message. Thesetechniques are all well known to those skilled in the art. The message15 arrives at the message server 40 and is normally stored in a messagestore. Most known messaging systems support a so-called “pull” messageaccess scheme, wherein the mobile device 100 must request that storedmessages be forwarded by the message server to the mobile device 100.Some systems provide for automatic routing of such messages which areaddressed using a specific e-mail address associated with the mobiledevice 100. In a preferred embodiment described in further detail below,messages addressed to a message server account associated with a hostsystem such as a home computer or office computer which belongs to theuser of a mobile device 100 are redirected from the message server 40 tothe mobile device 100 as they are received.

Regardless of the specific mechanism controlling the forwarding ofmessages to the mobile device 100, the message 15, or possibly atranslated or reformatted version thereof, is sent to the wirelessgateway 85. The wireless infrastructure 90 includes a series ofconnections to wireless network 105. These connections could beIntegrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Frame Relay or T1connections using the TCP/IP protocol used throughout the Internet. Asused herein, the term “Wireless network” is intended to include at leastone of three different types of networks, those being (1) data-centricwireless networks, (2) voice-centric wireless networks and (3) dual-modenetworks that can support both voice and data communications over thesame physical base stations. Combined dual-mode networks include, butare not limited to, (1) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks,(2) the Groupe Special Mobile or the Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) and the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)networks, and (3) future third-generation (3G) networks like EnhancedData-rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) and Universal MobileTelecommunications Systems (UMTS). Some older examples of data-centricnetwork include the Mobitex™ Radio Network and the DataTAC™ RadioNetwork. Examples of older voice-centric data networks include PersonalCommunication Systems (PCS) networks like GSM, and TDMA systems.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a further example communication systemincluding multiple networks and multiple mobile communication devices.The system of FIG. 2 is substantially similar to the FIG. 1 system, butincludes a host system 300, a redirection program 45, a mobile devicecradle 65, a wireless virtual private network (VPN) router 75, anadditional wireless network 110 and multiple mobile communicationdevices 100. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, FIG. 2represents an overview of a sample network topology. Although theencoded message processing systems and methods described herein may beapplied to networks having many different topologies, the network ofFIG. 2 is useful in understanding an automatic e-mail redirection systemmentioned briefly above.

The central host system 300 will typically be a corporate office orother LAN, but may instead be a home office computer or some otherprivate system where mail messages are being exchanged. Within the hostsystem 300 is the message server 400, running on some computer withinthe firewall of the host system, that acts as the main interface for thehost system to exchange e-mail with the Internet 20. In the system ofFIG. 2, the redirection program 45 enables redirection of data itemsfrom the server 400 to a mobile communication device 100. Although theredirection program 45 is shown to reside on the same machine as themessage server 400 for ease of presentation, there is no requirementthat it must reside on the message server. The redirection program 45and the message server 400 are designed to co-operate and interact toallow the pushing of information to mobile devices 100. In thisinstallation, the redirection program 45 takes confidential andnon-confidential corporate information for a specific user and redirectsit out through the corporate firewall to mobile devices 100. A moredetailed description of the redirection software 45 may be found in thecommonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,694 (“the '694 patent”), entitled“System and Method for Pushing Information From A Host System To AMobile Data Communication Device Having A Shared Electronic Address”,and issued to the assignee of the instant application on Apr. 17, 2001which is hereby incorporated into the present application by reference.This push technique may use a wireless friendly encoding, compressionand encryption technique to deliver all information to a mobile device,thus effectively extending the security firewall to include each mobiledevice 100 associated with the host system 300.

As shown in FIG. 2, there may be many alternative paths for gettinginformation to the mobile device 100. One method for loading informationonto the mobile device 100 is through a port designated 50, using adevice cradle 65. This method tends to be useful for bulk informationupdates often performed at initialization of a mobile device 100 withthe host system 300 or a computer 35 within the system 300. The othermain method for data exchange is over-the-air using wireless networks todeliver the information. As shown in FIG. 2, this may be accomplishedthrough a wireless VPN router 75 or through a traditional Internetconnection 95 to a wireless gateway 85 and a wireless infrastructure 90,as described above. The concept of a wireless VPN router 75 is new inthe wireless industry and implies that a VPN connection could beestablished directly through a specific wireless network 110 to a mobiledevice 100. The possibility of using a wireless VPN router 75 has onlyrecently been available and could be used when the new Internet Protocol(IP) Version 6 (IPV6) arrives into IP-based wireless networks. This newprotocol will provide enough IP addresses to dedicate an IP address toevery mobile device 100 and thus make it possible to push information toa mobile device 100 at any time. A principal advantage of using thiswireless VPN router 75 is that it could be an off-the-shelf VPNcomponent, thus it would not require a separate wireless gateway 85 andwireless infrastructure 90 to be used. A VPN connection would preferablybe a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP or User Datagram Protocol(UDP)/IP connection to deliver the messages directly to the mobiledevice 100. If a wireless VPN 75 is not available then a link 95 to theInternet 20 is the most common connection mechanism available and hasbeen described above.

In the automatic redirection system of FIG. 2, a composed e-mail message15 leaving the e-mail sender 10 arrives at the message server 400 and isredirected by the redirection program 45 to the mobile device 100. Asthis redirection takes place the message 15 is re-enveloped, asindicated at 80, and a possibly proprietary compression and encryptionalgorithm can then be applied to the original message 15. In this way,messages being read on the mobile device 100 are no less secure than ifthey were read on a desktop workstation such as 35 within the firewall.All messages exchanged between the redirection program 45 and the mobiledevice 100 preferably use this message repackaging technique. Anothergoal of this outer envelope is to maintain the addressing information ofthe original message except the sender's and the receiver's address.This allows reply messages to reach the appropriate destination, andalso allows the “from” field to reflect the mobile user's desktopaddress. Using the user's e-mail address from the mobile device 100allows the received message to appear as though the message originatedfrom the user's desktop system 35 rather than the mobile device 100.

With reference back to the port 50 and cradle 65 connectivity to themobile device 100, this connection path offers many advantages forenabling one-time data exchange of large items. For those skilled in theart of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and synchronization, the mostcommon data exchanged over this link is Personal Information Management(PIM) data 55. When exchanged for the first time this data tends to belarge in quantity, bulky in nature and requires a large bandwidth to getloaded onto the mobile device 100 where it can be used on the road. Thisserial link may also be used for other purposes, including setting up aprivate security key 111 such as an S/MIME or PGP specific private key,the Certificate (Cert) of the user and their Certificate RevocationLists (CRLs) 60. The private key is preferably exchanged so that thedesktop 35 and mobile device 100 share one personality and one methodfor accessing all mail. The Cert and CRLs are normally exchanged oversuch a link because they represent a large amount of the data that isrequired by the device for S/MIME, PGP and other public key securitymethods.

As depicted in FIG. 3, mobile communications device 100 includes asuitable RF antenna 102 for wireless communication to/from wirelessnetwork 20. Conventional RF, demodulation/modulation and decoding/codingcircuits 104 are provided. As those in the art will appreciate, suchcircuits may involve possibly many digital signal processors (DSPs),microprocessors, filters, analog and digital circuits and the like.However, since such circuitry is well known in the art, it is notfurther described herein.

The mobile communications device 100 will also typically include a maincontrol CPU 106 that operates under the control of a stored program inprogram memory 108, and which has access to data memory 110. CPU 106also communicates with a conventional keyboard 112 and display 114 (forexample, a liquid crystal display or LCD) and audio transducer orspeaker 116. A portion of the data memory 310 is available for storingdata required for decrypting encrypted messages, such as, for example,private keys, digital certificates, and the like. Suitable computerprogram executable code is stored in portions of the program memory 108to constitute stored program logic for receiving and using new or addedprivate keys and/or digital certificates or the like as described below(for example, via a wired serial I/O port or the wireless RF antenna102).

As depicted in FIG. 1, a secure wired synchronization connection 26 (forexample, between serial I/O ports of the user's base unit 24 and thewireless device 100) is typically provided for normal datasynchronization purposes (for example, to synchronize databases in thetwo devices with respect to such things as calendars, to-do lists, tasklists, address books, etc.). Part of prior data synchronizationprocesses has included a program logic such as Cert Sync for maintainingsynchronization between cryptographic message certificates. If a secureover the air (OTA) synchronization connection 28 is available, it mayalso be used by Cert Sync to maintain synchronization of cryptographicmessage certificates.

As previously described, there is a communications link (for example,depicted in dotted lines at 30 in FIG. 1) typically found between thedevice user's base unit 24 and a system message server 14. Accordingly,there is an existing communication path that may be utilized for passingsynchronization data from the user's base unit 24 via channel 30, theserver 14, Internet 12, wireless gateway 16 and wireless infrastructure18 via the OTA synchronization connection 28.

As depicted in FIG. 4, the user's base unit 24 may be used to update themobile wireless communications device 100 with information including,for example, private key information and digital certificateinformation. The user's base station 24 is typically a desktop PC, andmay be of conventional hardware and operating system design. It willtypically include desktop manager program logic 304 (in the form of, forexample, executable computer program logic) for managing, among otherthings, a normal data synchronization connection to device 100. Aspreviously mentioned, in the environment of mobile wirelesscommunications systems, such a desktop manager may typically includelogic for synchronizing cryptographic message certificates. Such logicis denoted here as Cert Sync. Optionally, an OTA synchronizationconnection may also be available via an OTA link 28 and OTA sync backup314.

E-mail messages generated using the S/MIME and PGP techniques mayinclude encrypted information, a digital signature on the messagecontents, or both. In encrypted S/MIME message operations, a one-timesession key is generated and used to encrypt the body of the message,typically with a symmetric cipher, such as, for example, Triple DES. Thesession key is then encrypted using the receiver's public key, typicallywith a public key encryption algorithm like RSA. If the message isaddressed to more than one receiver, the same session key is encryptedusing the public key of each receiver. The encrypted message body, aswell as all encrypted session keys, is sent to every receiver. Eachreceiver must then locate its own session key, possibly based on agenerated Recipient Info summary of the receivers that may be attachedto the message, and decrypt the session key using its private key. Oncethe session key is decrypted, it is then used to decrypt the messagebody. The S/MIME Recipient Info attachment can also specify theparticular encryption scheme that must be used to decrypt the message.This information is normally placed in the header of the S/MIME message.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these operations relate toan illustrative example of S/MIME messaging and its associated encodingoperations, namely encryption. It will also be understood that theinstant disclosure is in no way limited thereto.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosurewherein intelligent error messaging is provided. If a user receives amessage at his or her handheld device 500, the device first determinesif the message is encrypted in step 502. If the message is notencrypted, the message is displayed to the user in step 516. On theother hand, if the message is determined to be encrypted, the programlogic then determines if the appropriate private key is present on theuser's device 504. If the private key is present on the user's device,the message is decrypted 506 and then displayed on the user's device516. If, however, there is a problem, such as, for example, adetermination in step 504 that the appropriate private key orcertificate is not available, intelligent error messaging according toan exemplary embodiment of the disclosure is provided.

When an exemplary error, such as that illustrated above occurs, theprogram logic of the user's device provided with intelligent errormessaging provides detailed information for correcting or overcoming theerror 510. According to the intelligent error messaging, the programlogic determines, among other things, exactly what the problem is withthe message, and displays an appropriate descriptive indication of whaterror has been detected 510 a. In this illustrative example, a messagesuch as “This S/MIME message is encrypted but cannot be decryptedbecause the required private key is not present on your handheld” may bedisplayed. This message describes in understandable terms the problembeing encountered in displaying a received message. Thus, the user isnot left wondering or guessing as to the cause of the error.

After displaying the detailed descriptive error message identifying theproblem being encountered 510 a, a descriptive message detailing how theproblem may be solved is displayed 510 b. It will be understood thatthis message may be automatically displayed or displayed in response toa user input. In any event, according to this exemplary illustration, amessage telling the user exactly how to solve the problem is displayed,for example, how to get a private key on to the user device. Forexample, a message along the lines of “You may update your handheld'skey store using the certificate synchronization software in the desktopmanager.” Now, the user has been informed of exactly what problem hasoccurred, and what steps to take to solve the problem. However, it stillremains that the user must now be informed as to what data must beloaded onto the user's device when implementing, for example, thedesktop manager.

To that end, an advantageous feature of the instant exemplary embodimentis the display 510 c of a further message informing the user exactlywhich certificates need to be loaded with the message to provide theuser's device with the appropriate data for decrypting the message,including which certificates include the necessary information. Forexample, a message such as “The missing certificate corresponds to oneof the following serial number, issuer pairs: serial number X, issuer X;serial number Y, issuer Y, etc.”

After all of the intelligent error messaging information 510 a, 510 b,510 c is provided to the user, the user may further be prompted tofollow the instructions provided 512, and load the appropriate data ontothe user's device 514. Upon completing the error correction steps, themessage may then be decrypted 506 for display to the user 516.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are illustrative depictions showing exemplary errormessaging in accordance with the exemplary embodiments discussed above.As shown in FIG. 6A, an indication of what type of error has occurred isdisplayed on the mobile device. For example, the display indicates thatthe S/MIME message cannot be decrypted because the required private keyis not present on the mobile device. FIG. 6B illustrates further errormessaging in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 6B, the display of the mobile device indicateshow the user may obtain the missing information, and what thatinformation may be.

It will be understood that the above intelligent error messagingdescribed with respect to decryption of encrypted e-mail messages isintended to be illustrative only. It will be apparent to those skilledin the art that this type of intelligent error messaging has wideranging application in unlimited and innumerable applications,especially those encountered in the computer and electronics fields.Thus, the exemplary embodiment described above may be equally applicableto use in computer programs, internet browsing, data processing and thelike, where errors that are correctable by a user may occur frequently.

1. An electronic communications device comprising: a receiver forreceiving electronic messages; a processor capable of processing saidelectronic messages; and program logic operable to generate anintelligent error message when said processor detects an error inprocessing said electronic message, said intelligent error messageincluding at least one of a first message indicating a cause of anerror, a second message providing information on how to correct saiderror and a third message providing instructions regarding whatadditional information, if any, is required to be resident on saidelectronic communications device to overcome the detected error.
 2. Theelectronic communications device of claim 1, wherein said electronicmessages are cryptographically secured.
 3. The electronic communicationsdevice of claim 2, wherein said cryptographically secured electronicmessages are e-mail messages.
 4. The electronic communications device ofclaim 3, wherein said additional information comprises cryptographic keyinformation.
 5. The electronic communications device of claim 4, whereinsaid cryptographic key information comprises a digital certificate. 6.The electronic communications device of claim 1, wherein said secondmessage provides detailed instructions to assist a user in performingremedial tasks to correct the detected error.
 7. The electroniccommunications device of claim 1, wherein said first message provides adetailed description of why the detected error is occurring.
 8. Theelectronic communications device of claim 1, wherein said program logicis resident on said electronic communications device.
 9. The electroniccommunications device of claim 1, wherein the detected error iscorrected by interfacing said electronic communications device with ahost processor that is capable of performing operations in accordancewith said intelligent error message.
 10. The electronic communicationsdevice of claim 9, wherein said interface is hard-wired.
 11. Theelectronic communications device of claim 9, wherein said interface iswireless.
 12. A wireless communications device comprising: a processorcapable of processing electronic messages received by the wirelesscommunications device; and program logic operable to generate, upondetection by said processor of a message processing error, anintelligent error message providing a user of said wirelesscommunications device with information regarding a cause of the detectederror, a solution for overcoming said detected error and informationregarding what, if any, additional data may be needed to be downloadedto said wireless communications device to correct said error.
 13. Thewireless communications device of claim 12 wherein said electronicmessages are cryptographically secured.
 14. The wireless communicationsdevice of claim 13, wherein said additional data comprises cryptographickey data.
 15. The wireless communications device of claim 14, whereinsaid cryptographic key data comprises a digital certificate.
 16. Thewireless communications device of claim 12, wherein said additional datais downloaded to said wireless communications device from a hostprocessor.
 17. A wireless communications device comprising: means forreceiving electronic messages; means for processing said electronicmessages and detecting an error in processing said electronic message;and means for generating an intelligent error message regarding a causeand a solution for said detected error.
 18. A wireless communicationsdevice comprising: a receiver for receiving at least one ofcryptographically secured e-mail messages and data; a processor operableto process said cryptographically secured e-mail messages and data forviewing by a user on said wireless communications device; and programlogic operable to provide a user with intelligent error messaging whenan error occurs in processing of cryptographically secured e-mailmessages or data, wherein said intelligent error message includes afirst message providing a detailed description of the error encountered,a second message providing detailed information regarding what utilitiesto run on said wireless communications device, and a third messageindicating what decryption data missing from the wireless communicationsdevice must be downloaded in order to view the e-mail message or data.19. A method of processing electronic messages for viewing on a wirelesscommunications device comprising: receiving an electronic message onsaid wireless communications device; processing the received message fordisplay on said wireless communications device; detecting an error inprocessing of the electronic message for display, and when an error isdetected: generating an intelligent error message for display to theuser on the wireless communications device, the intelligent errormessage including a first message providing a detailed description ofthe error encountered in processing the electronic message, a secondmessage providing detailed information regarding what utilities to runon said wireless communications device and a third message indicatingwhat additional data, if any, is required to be downloaded to saidwireless device to overcome the detected error.
 20. The method of claim19, wherein said electronic message is a cryptographically securede-mail message.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein said additionalinformation is cryptographic key data.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein said cryptographic key data comprises a digital certificate. 23.The method of claim 21, wherein the detected error is an error indecrypting said cryptographically secured e-mail message.
 24. A methodof processing cryptographically secured electronic messages for viewingon a wireless communications device comprising: receiving acryptographically secured electronic message on said wirelesscommunications device; processing the received message to decrypt saidmessage for display on said wireless communications device; detecting anerror in decrypting the electronic message for display, and an whenerror is detected: generating an intelligent error message for displayto the user on the wireless communications device, the intelligent errormessage including a first message providing a detailed description ofthe error encountered in processing the electronic message, a secondmessage providing detailed information regarding what utilities to runon said wireless communications device and a third message indicatingwhat additional decryption data, if any, is required to be downloaded tosaid wireless device to overcome the detected error